Gerson Pereira dos Santos Filho (born June 15, 1982) is a Brazilian retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

Career

College and amateur

Dos Santos played for several youth clubs in his native Brazil, including C.A. Juventus and Foz Cataratas E.C., before moving to the United States in 2005 to attend and play

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

. He made 45 appearances with the VCU Rams over three seasons, scoring 10 goals and 9 assists, earning All-CAA First Team honors in his sophomore season, and being named co-Player of the Year in his senior year. Dos Santos also spent the 2007 season with

Richmond Kickers Future Richmond Kickers Future was an American soccer team based in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Founded in 2002 as part of the development system of the Richmond Kickers USL Second Division franchise, the team played in the USL Premier Develop ...

in the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

Professional

Dos Santos graduated from college one year early and turned professional in 2009 when he signed with the

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

in the

USL Second Division The USL Second Division (commonly referred to as USL-2) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States, operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL). It was at the third tier of soccer in the United States, behind Major League Soccer ( ...

. He made his professional debut on April 18, 2009 in Richmond's 2-2 opening day tie with the

Harrisburg City Islanders Penn FC (formerly the Harrisburg City Islanders) was an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of the United States soccer ...

, and helped the Kickers to the 2009 USL Second Division championship.

Coaching

In addition to his playing career, Dos Santos managed many youth teams. Notably, the 2013-15 U14-15 Richmond Kickers Central Everton team was successful in creating many great soccer players of the future.

Honors

Richmond Kickers

Champions (1):

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

References

External links

Richmond Kickers bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Gerson dos 1982 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers VCU Rams men's soccer players Richmond Kickers Future players Richmond Kickers players USL League Two players USL Second Division players USL Championship players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Men's association football midfielders Major Indoor Soccer League (2008–2014) players Footballers from São Paulo